


A Week in the Life

by carmcakes



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 23:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6350548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmcakes/pseuds/carmcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A week with Belivaird.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Week in the Life

Thursdays were anticipation-- the misty morning before a bright afternoon, stolen glances at the clock, moments hanging between kisses, the golden hour. Thursdays were being second-in-line for cinema tickets, waiting for a lover to awaken as you lay in their arms, seeing the first tulip bloom while spring was still a ways off. Thursdays were mapping and planning, atlases and travel guides spilling over the kitchen table, as Therese and Carol combed through them. Thursdays were sometimes forgetting that Friday still existed between them and the weekend. Thursdays were good-morning-and-goodbye kisses, knowing that they would be together again soon and that more would come later. Thursdays were Therese’s occasional afternoons off, spent inventorying in the furniture shop or taking pictures around the Upper West Side if the weather was fair and both she and Carol were free. Thursdays were visits with Rindy on her school breaks or if Harge was out of town. Thursdays were a pause between the week and the weekend but also a signal that the weekend was soon to come. Thursdays were unpredictable yet laced with possibility.

Thursday, March 22, 1954

“Rindy, don’t walk so fast,” Carol called. The two were walking along Columbus-- or rather, Carol was walking, while ten steps ahead of Carol, Rindy was skipping at a lively pace with her teddy bear on her shoulders. They were on their way to skip stones in Central Park, having just had an eventful morning at the Museum of Natural History-- Rindy’s favorite place in the city.

“But _mom_ ,” Rindy whined. “I’m a big girl.” She stopped, turned back to Carol, and crossed her arms-- forgetting about her bear, which fell to the sidewalk.

“Well, you can come be a big girl over here, can’t you?” Carol kept her pace and held her hand out to Rindy once she was close enough.

“I _guess_ ,” Rindy scoffed. She picked up her teddy bear but then having thought of some brilliant idea, looked up at Carol, ignoring her hand. “But _only_ ,” she grinned mischievously-- her smile looking uncannily similar to Abby’s for an instant, “if you’ll carry me _and_ my bear.”

“I thought you were a big girl.” Carol raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips, amused.

“I am! I’m taking charge like Ms. Reed tells us to,” Rindy said triumphantly while she tried to mirror Carol’s stance-- her holding her bear making things a bit difficult.

“What a big shot,” Carol smiled and in one fluid motion picked up Rindy, bear still in tow, and swung her over her hip as they walked along the street. “You’re getting big though,” Carol pressed a kiss to Rindy’s forehead. “Maybe we’ll have to get you an airplane to fly around in. Or a dinosaur to ride.”

Rindy giggled. “You’re silly. Plus, dinosaurs went extinct like a million years ago, so there aren’t any left.”

“What? No! Didn’t you see that pterodactyl flying past a few minutes ago?”

“Where?”

“It was…” Carol spun them in a circle. “This way?” She pointed her free arm out toward the street. “No, wait. Maybe….” She turned them around once, twice more, with Rindy laughing again. “I think I saw it go through Central Park. This way,” and Carol took them through the gate and into the park.

The weather was remarkably mild for a March afternoon, and the sunlight peeking through the clouds only made it warmer. Cyclists and dog-walkers passed Carol and Rindy in droves and after the fourth or so terrier which Rindy just _had_ to pet, Carol set her down so she could catch up to the next puppy coming by before quickly running back to Carol. After a few minutes of this and their quiet walk, Rindy began telling Carol all about her new school and her new friends. Her most recent best friend, James, and she were going to be paleontologists.

“The girls are all boring, mommy. All they do is talk about dolls and makeup. The boys are much better.”

“You’re sounding like your Aunt Abby.” Carol laughed. “She _only_ talked to boys when we were young.”

“Well, maybe I’ll be like Aunt Abby, and I’ll only talk to boys and you. And Therese.”

Though Rindy had known Therese over a year now and had completely doted on her, Rindy’s mentioning Therese in passing never ceased to make Carol smile. Perhaps it was because, though Carol knew how smart and caring her daughter was, she always worried that Harge and his parents would attempt to persuade Rindy in thinking that Carol was some sort of criminal. Thankfully, Rindy seemed to be above the behavior and wouldn’t have any of it.

“Mommy, where _is_ Therese?”

“She’s taking photographs for her job. We’ll see her back at home.” Carol hung a left at the next fork in the path and sped up her pace, noticing that Rindy was beginning to get distracted by the different trees beginning to get their leaves again. “Hurry up, slowpoke! You can’t let an old lady like me get ahead of you.”

Rindy skipped up alongside her, and Carol held Rindy against the side of her coat. The two of them walked along the path for a few more minutes, until Carol found a familiar, quiet spot by one of the ponds where no one else seemed to be around and perched herself on one of the benches near to the water. Rindy placed her teddy carefully on Carol’s lap and walked to the pond, picking up a few flat stones along the way which she could toss.

Carol was content to sit there all day-- the sun on her face, watching her daughter enjoy herself outside. She took a deep breath, let the light wind fan her, and watched Rindy walk along the shoreline. Occasionally, Rindy would yell out things to Carol that had happened to her at home or at school recently-- how much she loved her teacher, how her favorite subject was science, and how much she liked being outside. She mentioned how her birthday party was coming in a few weeks and that she was hoping for a new stuffed animal from her grandparents.

In the intermittent silences, Carol felt completely at ease-- so relaxed, in fact, that she closed her eyes and began to doze off. That is, until a familiar pair of hands on her shoulders immediately woke her.

“I checked at home, and no one was there. Thought I might find you two here.” Carol felt a quick kiss on her hair.

“Well, better late than never I suppose,” Carol smirked.

“You would know,” Therese quipped and kissed Carol’s hair again. “I missed you,” she whispered.

Carol watched as Therese tiptoed quietly up to the shoreline behind Rindy who was still happily throwing stones. Once within arm’s length, Therese quickly picked up Rindy from behind and spun them around in a circle. “Hi, babydoll!” Therese yelled. 

“Hi, Therese!” Rindy squealed in between giggles as Therese let her down. Rindy offered Therese some of her stones, and the two of them tossed them together-- Carol still watching on from the bench. 

When the sun began setting, the three took off for Madison Avenue, Rindy walking in between Therese and Carol as she held both of their hands-- occasionally both of them lifting her up as they walked. Therese promised a piano lesson and a glass of warm milk when they got back, while Carol told Rindy she could have as many bedtime stories as she liked. And later that evening, as Carol and Therese laid in each other's arms, they promised more tomorrows than there were stars in the night sky.

Was there really a better way to spend a Thursday?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! So this is my first story. I hope you liked it. So far the plan isn't going through consecutive dates or anything like that, so we'll see where it goes. If you have any ideas, let me know!


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